Tell the Commission: Enforce the Law – Protect the Pigs

Between March 2013 and March 2014, 475,576 people signed our petition calling on every EU Agriculture Minister to ensure that their country complies fully with the EU Pigs Directive.

But for this petition to be taken seriously we must also get the backing of the highest power in Europe – The European Commission. Will you help?

A message of Hope: an incredible 475,576 signatures were hand-delivered to Agriculture Ministers in Brussels, demanding protection for EU pigs.

The EU Pigs Directive, was designed by the European Commission to ensure pig welfare standards through:

banning the permanent housing of sow in stalls

ensuring pigs have straw or other materials to root in and explore

ending the routine docking of pigs’ tails

Whilst some progress has already been made on the sow stall ban, at least 235,000 pigs still remain illegally confined in sow stalls. And, the routine docking of pigs’ tails and housing of pigs in barren environments are still widespread.

But, with your help we can finish what we started and get the Pigs Directive properly enforced. Please join us now in calling the European Commission to take our petition seriously.

Whether you signed the petition or not, please act now by sending a message urging Europe’s most powerful leaders to enforce the Pigs Directive and remind Member States of their duties to protect pig welfare.

UPDATE: The European Commission has asked us to place their reply to our supporters’ emails on our website. You can read it here.

Their reply is appalling in its refusal to recognise the Commission’s responsibility as Guardian of the Treaties to ensure that EU law is respected in all the Member States. The requirement for farmers to provide enrichment materials for their pigs and the ban on routine tail docking have been in force for 12 years. We have repeatedly given the Commission evidence of widespread breaches of this legislation but they have failed to halt this law breaking.

We estimate that around 90% of EU pigs are routinely tail docked and that 80% do not receive effective enrichment. In fact these figures are probably even higher. The EU rears 250 million pigs a year. A massive 2400 million pigs* would have enjoyed better welfare if the EU’s pig sector had complied with the laws on enrichment and tail docking since they came into force 12 years ago. The EU pig sector behaves as if it’s above the law and the Commission stands idly by.

The Commission says it’s producing guidelines. This process has been going on for over a year but still the guidelines have not been published. Also, what makes the Commission think that the pig sector, most of whose farmers break the law, will feel obliged to respect guidelines? The Commission needs to take urgent action to ensure that these laws are complied with.

*We calculate this as follows. The EU rears 250 million pigs a year; that is 3000 million since these laws came into force in 2003. At least 80% (probably more) have been reared without enrichment materials and routinely tail docked. 80% of 3000 million is 2400 million.

Take action

Email the European Commission and urge them to ensure that the law is fully implemented, with every Member State taking their responsibilities seriously.

Fill in your details below and click submit to email this message to the European Commission.

Dear Commissioner Andriukaitis,

In March 2014, Compassion in World Farming delivered a petition of 475,576 signatures to the Agriculture Council Meeting in Brussels. The petition called for full compliance with the partial sow stall ban, an end to tail docking and the provision of sufficient enrichment materials. This call was echoed by almost 60 MEPs who signed an open letter to the Commission and the EU Agriculture Ministers.

There is clear evidence that many EU pig producers are infringing important provisions of Council Directive 2008/120 on the protection of pigs (the Pigs Directive) and that many Member States are failing to enforce these provisions.

The provisions in question:

• require pigs to be provided with enrichment materials to enable them to engage in their natural investigation and manipulation behaviours

• prohibit routine tail docking; the Directive provides that farmers must first try to prevent tail biting by changing inadequate conditions. They may only tail dock if, having genuinely improved the conditions on the farm, they still have a tail biting problem.

The 2008 Directive is a codified version of earlier legislation. The above provisions have been in force since 2003.

In 2013 Compassion in World Farming (Compassion) investigated pig farms in six Member States: Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Cyprus and Poland. They visited 45 farms. All but one of these farms were breaking the above provisions on the welfare of pigs. In addition, many of the farms were filthy, breaking the Directive’s requirement that pigs should have a clean lying area.

The pig sector and Member State authorities have known about these problems for many years – and have failed to take effective action. In 2008 and 2009 Compassion conducted an investigation in 74 pig farms across Europe: in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. Most of the pigs seen during this investigation were being farmed in breach of the Directive’s provisions on enrichment and tail docking.

In addition, reports by the Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office have repeatedly drawn attention to non-compliance with the law requiring enrichment materials to be provided and the ban on routine tail docking.
It is unacceptable that, over ten years since they came into force, many pigs are being reared in breach of key aspects of EU welfare legislation. We welcome the fact that the Commission is currently developing guidance on the Pigs Directive. However, some Member States are using this as an excuse for inaction.
In addition, in a number of Member States sows are still being kept in sow stalls in breach of the Directive.

The Commission’s standard reply to people’s emails is unacceptable. It is the Commission’s responsibility to ensure that EU law is enforced by all the Member States and respected by the pig sector. I urge the Commission to at long last take effective steps to ensure that EU pigs receive the protection that should be provided under EU law.